I have a 2-year old Hitachi Progressive-Scan DVD player with problems. Some discs (it seems to be worse with dirty or scratched ones) it won't play at all- it can't find the disc. Others, it starts getting jerky or freezing up partway through. I thought it might just be dirt on the lens, but I tried cleaning it and the problem persists. Any thoughts?
BTW, my electronics proficiency is modest, so if this is something difficult to fix, I'm probably chucking the unit.
How did you try cleaning it? Use a basically worthless Cleaning cd? Or a cotton swab slightly wet with plastic eyeglass cleaner and the top cover open?
Other people will say to use alcohol to clean the lens. I do not because some manufactures claim it can damage the coating on the plastic lens. Since I am generally lazy when it comes to looking up which ones can use it and which ones say not to use it when all the unit needs is an obvious cleaning, I use the generally accepted and always safe plastic eyeglass lens cleaning solution.
Beyond that, the laser could be simply getting weak or the spindle motor could be having problems.
Read the FAQ on cd players:
I used alcohol on a cotton swab, as I've done in the past with CD players. It doesn't seem to have caused any worsening of the problem, it just hasn't effected it. Hence I lean towards the last 2 possibilities you mentioned.
I would suggest a Pioneer. Decent price for a much better player than the cheapies.
Mark Z.
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